He won silver ....Man some ppl are just hard to impress


For Chinese Olympians, Winning Is No Longer Everything

On Monday, shortly after winning an Olympic silver medal in men’s weightlifting, China’s Wu Jingbiao broke down during a live interview for the CCTV network. “I’m ashamed for disgracing the motherland, the Chinese weightlifting team and all those who supported me,” he sniffled. “I’m sorry!”

As the stunned interviewer reached out to console him, Wu bowed in a dramatic expression of guilt and remorse for committing what has long been a cardinal sin in Chinese sports: failing to achieve gold in an Olympic event in which you are heavily favored.

Wu’s meltdown was well-timed, landing in the midst of an intense public debate over whether China is too obsessed with winning Olympic gold medals -- and only gold medals. On one side is a Chinese public increasingly impatient with state-run media that promote an aging view of Olympic success that values a gold medal as the only achievement worth noting. On the other side is that same state-run media and its unerring desire -- nicknamed "gold fever" by some -- for tangible, countable results. Of China’s state-run newspapers, none is more enthusiastic about gold medals than the hyper-nationalist, Communist Party-owned and operated Global Times. On Monday, it ran merely its latest editorial against those who would

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-01/for-chinese-olympians-winning-is-no-longer-everything.html